That William Goldman… what a tough writer to pin down, huh? MARATHON MAN never reached the popularity or garnered the reverence some of his other works have, but it’s still a well-respected 70s thriller. How did it play to a couple of present-day film fans, and were Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier able to steal the show back from a super-cool post-Jaws Roy Scheider? That and more in this Real Talk segment!

What do you know, Dustin Hoffman doesn’t run a single marathon in John Schlesinger’s MARATHON MAN. He does run from Nazis and corrupt American operatives a lot though. Was that enough to warrant a fresh 82% Tomatometer score? Listen to Alex & Julio as they lament that Roy Scheider is relegated to back-up status in this convoluted thriller - and wonder why bad dentistry was the worst Lawrence Olivier could come up with as an evil superpower.

All joking aside, it’s a bummer that a movie like DOGFIGHT is not better known and, once we get past our annoyance at younger reviewers engaging with the film on a superficial level, we do our best to celebrate Nancy Savoca’s bittersweet love story. So no point in even trying to be suspenseful about it: expect lots of appreciation for River Phoenix and Lily Taylor’s performances in this Real Talk segment… and a commitment to owning the Criterion release!

What if Dinner for Schmucks was an artsy love story? Yes, that change would suck the fun out of the film, but, in exchange, it would get it some cred with film critics. And that’s how DOGFIGHT ended up with a fresh 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes - and a pretty recent Criterion Collection induction to boot. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to figure out if River Phoenix and Lili Taylor have any actual chemistry, and if tying stories into the JFK assassination will ever get old!

We were going to originally drop this on Valentine’s Day, but we figured the In the Heights conversation needed an extra holiday in the spotlight. Regardless, here we are, at the end of our Exorcist Franchise journey, as we chat our way through THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER - yet another failed attempt at making The Exorcist series a blockbuster-machine. But hey, we got Ann Dowd, Ellen Burstyn, and the team behind Alex’s beloved modern Halloween trilogy so… it can’t all be bad, can it?

Thank you for joining us in this project!

The seventh installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to a whole host of characters that would get harassed by ICE in today’s America. Writer and friend Cathy Alvarez joins us to talk about Usnavi and the rest of the Latino community of IN THE HEIGHTS!

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entries in the series, let us know!

It would be disingenuous to talk about SERENITY without addressing the Whedonesque Elephant in the ship, so to speak. So, yes, this Real Talk segment devotes some time to the rise and fall of the Whedon brand. But we also talk about Serenity itself, and how it works for someone who’s not familiar with the show versus how it works for a hardcore Firefly fan. Can you enjoy the movie if you didn’t care for the show? It’s all answered here!

The year was 2005 and Joss Whedon decided to audition for a spot among Big Hollywood Blockbuster Directors. He submitted SERENITY for our collective consideration and it didn’t quite light the world on fire, despite its passionate fanbase - who would’ve thought a movie based on a short-lived cult show wouldn’t break box office records? Still, it’s fresh on the Tomatometer, so it’ll get the Contrarians Treatment!

(Patrons: check your feeds for a discussion about FIREFLY that leads right into this episode.)

The actual title is DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST, which really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Anyway, we continue paying our Livestream for the Cure debt by doing a commentary on the Paul Schrader version of the fourth Exorcist movie - which happens to be the one you can watch for free!

Director Nick Cassavetes has a penchant for successfully manipulating audiences into loving movies most critics scoff at. That explains the disconnect between JOHN Q’s 26% Tomatometer score and its 78% Popcornmeter score. Of course, we live in a world where half the American population low-key celebrated the death of a healthcare company’s CEO so we shouldn’t be surprised most regular folk sided with Denzel on this one. Lots to talk about in this Real Talk segment!